History. Learning. Love. Resistance
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History. Learning. Love. Resistance. Directed by Maya Newell In Collaboration with Dujuan Hoosan, Carol Turner, Megan Hoosan, James Mawson, Margaret Anderson “Profoundly moving” “Dujuan is magnetic” “Remarkable” “Breathtaking” SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL MIFF CRITICS ACADEMY FILUMS SUPAMODU LOGLINE When Dujuan cannot run nor fight alone, he faces the history that runs straight into him and realises that not only has he inherited the trauma and dispossession of his land, but also the resilience and resistance of many generations of his people which holds the key to his future. SYNOPSIS Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self. “When you go out bush every week, you learn how to control your anger, and you learn how to control your life” Dujuan 2 LONG SYNOPSIS Ten-year-old Dujuan is a child-healer, a good hunter and speaks three languages. “This man camed on a ship, As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him we see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing and he was the first man on scrutiny from welfare and the police. Australia. The first white man.” As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a Dujuan strong Arrernte education alongside his western education lest he becomes another statistic. We walk with him as he grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in-between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for “White people educate our kids his future self. in the way they want them to Director Maya Newell’s first feature Gayby Baby (Hot Docs, Good Pitch Aus, be educated. But I want them London BFI), sparked a national debate in Australia when it was banned in to learn their language. So they schools. Told through the lens of four children in same-sex families during the fight for Marriage Equality, the film offered the voice of those being ignored. can carry on their language. I Made in collaboration with Dujuan and his family In My Blood It Runs tackles want my children to grow up another heated topic, First Nations education and juvenile justice and places the missing voice of children front and centre. learning in both ways” Carol Turner, grandmother Filmed candidly and intimately, we experience this world on the fringes of Alice Springs through Dujuan’s eyes. Dujuan’s family light candles when the power card runs out, often rely on extended family to drop around food and live alongside the ingrained effects of colonization and dispossession. Every day in the classroom, Dujuan’s strength as a child-healer and Arrernte language speaker goes unnoticed. While he likes school, his report card shows a stream of ‘E’s, which make him feel stupid. Education is universally understood as a ticket to success, but school becomes a site of displacement and Dujuan starts running away from the classroom. 3 In stark contrast to his school behaviour, on his ancestral homeland surrounded by his family, Dujuan is focused, engaged and learning. We begin to see Country as a classroom – a place where the resilience can grow and revolution is alive. But the pressures on Dujuan in Alice Springs are ever encroaching – educational failure, domestic violence, child removal and police. In May 2016, images of children being tortured at the Northern Territory’s Don Dale Youth Detention Centre are leaked and spike global uproar. In fact, 100% of children detained in the Northern Territory are Indigenous. We begin to realize that Dujuan’s world does not exist in a vacuum, but is a microcosm of a much larger political and historical battle being waged in Australia. This event offers a stark insight into a potential future for Dujuan. How will his family and community rise above? In My Blood It Runs looks beyond the ‘problem’ to see the people. Instead of seeing this Aboriginal boy as a ‘criminal’, we see a child who has experienced systematic abuse; instead of ‘bad parents’, we see a family who has been systematically stripped of all agency yet undeniably love their kids; instead of a ‘failure’ at school, we see a child whose talents have been completely overlooked. And crucially, this child observes the inequality of the world he is presented with. In the end, when Dujuan cannot run nor fight alone, he faces the history that runs straight into him and realises that not only has he inherited the trauma and dispossession of his land, but also the strength, resilience and resistance of many generations of his people which holds the key to his future. “This movie is about me, and what I think is, stop taking kids away. That’s wrong” Dujuan “I want Australia to know that we love and care about our kids” Megan, Dujuan’s mother 4 THE MAKING In My Blood It Runs was shot in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Sandy Bore Homeland and Borroloola Community, Northern Territory, Australia over three years. However Maya, the director, has been making films alongside Arrernte Elders and families at an NGO called Akeyulerrre for a decade. This film arose organically from those relationships. The intimacy of the film and the delicacy with which it has represented the complex struggles of Dujuan and his families lives has been achieved through a deep and collaborative process between the filmmaking team and the family. The Arrernte and Garrwa families in the film and the board of Advisors to the film are core partners and have been involved in robust consultation at all stages of production. This has been a deep and ongoing process to ensure that each individual comprehensively understands the terms of involvement and the control they have over how their stories and images portrayed. Some of the core pillars of our protocols include; fair credits ‘Collaborating Directors’ and ‘Advisors’, formal recognition of Traditional Owners of the land we filmed, meaningful and ongoing consultation, shared ownership and profit with those represented, capacity building for First Nations peoples within the film team and a team structure that has both Indigenous and non-Indigenous as the core creatives. On release, the film will have an adjacent impact campaign driven by our Arrernte and Garrwa advisors and their vision for change. 5 UNITED NATIONS Last year, Dujuan became the youngest person ever to address the Human Rights Council and the United Nations. He said “The Australian government is not listening so we came here to speak with you. Adults never listen to kids like me, but we have important things to say. I want my school to be run by Aboriginal people. I want adults to stop cruelling Aboriginal kids in jail. I want my future to be on land with strong language and culture.” Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/inmyblooditruns/videos/2772276936187656/ “When I grow up I’m going to fight for rights for black people” Dujuan 6 “We are sending a message to Australia about how hard it is for our kids in central Australia as well as in other states. The curriculum is written the way white people want to teach our children and there is so little about who they as Aboriginal people.” Carol Turner IMPACT STRATEGY In My Blood It Runs has been supported by a number of philanthropic organisations and donors via the Good Pitch Australia initiative. This support has enabled us to plan a multi year strategy for social impact that dovetails with our distribution. We are currently in the design and consultation phase and plan to address issues around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education programs, truth telling and reckoning with our Australia’s past, and juvenile justice reform. Key Impact Goals: 1. Address racism by sharing lived experiences of First Nations people and challenging structural racism. 2. Build significant support for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led education system. 3. Mainstream schools become more culturally safe for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. 4. Amplify evidence-backed restorative youth justice solutions instead of punitive youth justice. Including Raising the age of criminality from 10 to 14/ 16 years old. Key Campaign messages: • Aboriginal people have solutions • Aboriginal people’s knowledge systems and culture are alive and well • Children have agency, and can speak truth to power • Aboriginal people love & care for their children • Aboriginal people should have right to determine and lead the terms of their education • Australia needs to be honest about our past in order to build a future • Aboriginal people live with racism everyday and it causes harm • We need restorative approaches to juvenile justice rather than punitive approaches All of these goals and messages have been identified in close consultation with Dujuan and his family as well as an advisory group of senior Arrernte and Garrwa Elders and leaders. “If you go to primary school, and then high school then you learn. But… I’m a bush kid.” Dujuan 7 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Maya Newell Over the last decade, I have had the privilege to spurred a national debate about the welfare of Gayby children.